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Hormone distorting chemicals involved in the fracking process could cause health problems to communities living near the sites if they are accidentally spilled in to the ground water, a study has found.

People with homes close to fracking sites could be at greater risk of suffering infertility, cancer and birth defects from chemicals used in process, research has warned.

US scientists found that ground and surface water had been contaminated by hormone disrupting chemicals because of accidental spills.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, are substances that can interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system and can lead to infertility, cancer and birth defects.

"More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and many of them disturb hormone function," said study author Dr Susan C. Nagel of the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

The study examined 12 suspected or known endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in natural gas operations and measured their ability to mimic or block the effect of the body's male and female reproductive hormones.

Rresearchers took surface and ground water samples from sites with drilling spills or accidents in a drilling-dense area of Garfield County, Colarado, which has more than 10,000 natural gas wells.

Samples from the Colorado River – the drainage basin for the natural gas drilling sites – were also found to have moderate levels of the chemicals.

"We found more endocrine-disrupting activity in the water close to drilling locations that had experienced spills than at control sites,” added Dr Nagel.

“This could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to EDCs."

The findings were published in The Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.

Meanwhile British scientists are spearheading a European project to identify methane emissions that could have major implications for fracking.

Experts from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will help develop new techniques for detecting and measuring "fugative" methane released as a by-product by different industries.

Fracking is known to generate methane, but it is not clear how much.

Reported leakage rates have ranged from 1.7 per cent to 7.9 per cent of total gas produced, while most experts agree on a figure based on sparse US data of around 2% to 3%.

The £1 million FuME (Fugitive Methane Emissions) project will find ways to get a more accurate picture of fracking methane emissions to help both governments and the industry.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with many times more atmospheric warming power than carbon dioxide.

Around two thirds of global methane is believed to come from man-made sources, such as burning fossil fuels, accidental releases from natural gas drilling, and large-scale cattle ranching.

The 2.5 year FuME project will produce guidelines for each of the industries it covers. Besides fracking, they include waste water treatment and national grid power transmission. A number of scientific papers will also be published.

The NPL, based in Teddington, south-west London, is a world leader in the science of making accurate measurements.

Jane Burston, head of the laboratory's Centre for Carbon Measurement, said: "Methane plays a big role in global warming. The IPCC (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change) recently updated their estimate of methane's global warming potential from 72 times that of carbon dioxide to 86 times over a 20 year time period. So it's a critical area to tackle for climate change mitigation.

"At the same time many opportunities to reduce fugitive losses are profit-making or cost neutral, so it's a potential business opportunity too."

Industries such as fracking can benefit from better detection of methane emissions by capturing the gas and selling it, making methane control profitable.

Mary Ritter, chief executive of Climate-KIC, the European public-private partnership funding the project, said: "Methane is a significant driver of climate-change and a valuable resource. Fugitive methane emissions measurement services will help a wide range of operators to better manage their processes and increase their profitability."

Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla Resources, which is pioneering fracking in the UK, said: "We are delighted to partner with Climate-KIC on this important quest to validate a new generation of measurement technologies."